Pato O’Ward scores his second win of the season on the streets of Toronto

The NTT IndyCar Series visited the streets of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Sunday afternoon in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Colton Herta started the race on the pole, and Alex Palou started in second. Before the race started, Santino Ferrucci was unable to compete in the race after suffering a crash in the morning warmup.

On the third lap of the race, the caution came out after Scott McLaughlin’s left rear lug nut came off along with the tire, sending him crashing into the Turn 2 wall. Colton Herta led the opening three laps before losing the lead to Alex Palou on the fourth lap. Eight laps later, Christian Rasmussen made contact with Will Power, sending him hard into the Turn 5 wall.

Later, Alexander Rossi’s day would end on lap 30 when he made contact with the wall at Turn 11. The day got worse for Team Penske. Louis Foster made slight contact with Jacob Abel, sending Abel into the wall. Josef Newgarden was behind and made contact with Abel, whose car sat on top of Newgarden’s car. A total of five cars were involved. Newgarden and Abel were not able to continue with the race.

Alex Palou led 37 laps. He made a pit stop during the caution, and Rinus VeeKay was the leader. VeeKay would lead 14 laps. When he went to pit road, Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson, and Colton Herta all led laps.

Pato O’Ward’s pit crew was on their game all race long, getting him out in front of Palou to take the lead on lap 62. He led the final 28 laps. The race ended under caution when Felix Rosenqvist made contact with Nolan Siegel at Turn 9 on lap 88.

Pato O’Ward would go on to win the race. It was his second win of the season and the ninth of his career. With the win, he cut Palou’s championship lead by 30 points. Alex Palou’s championship lead is now 99 points ahead of Pato O’Ward. Kyffin Simpson, Colton Herta, and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five.

Kyle Kirkwood, Graham Rahal, Callum Ilott, David Malukas, and Scott Dixon rounded out the top ten. There were six lead changes among five drivers, 226 passes, of which 201 were for positions, and five cautions for 19 laps.

The NTT IndyCar Series heads to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey next Sunday at 3 pm on Fox.

Finishing Order: